Vic business to face stiffer EPA fines

Victorian businesses face tougher penalties for environmental mishaps under an Australian-first approach that will see courts take into account the commercial benefit gained by companies that flout the rules.

The state’s Environment Protection Authority chief, John Merritt, told The Australian Financial Review the new arrangement would involve assessing how much it would have cost a company to comply with the rules.

That way, he said, companies would have less incentive to take the risk on non-compliance and it would remove the commercial advantage of doing so.

“Overwhelmingly most companies want to do the right thing," he said.

“Businesses say they can’t do the right thing unless the regulator manages a regime where there is an adequate sanction for those who do not. If you are in the handful of businesses taking the calculated gamble, we are putting in place a mechanism to actually assess the value of that."

Victoria is the first state to introduce the system.

Mr Merritt said Victoria has worked closely with the NSW government, which was considering a similar approach.